CHRISTIAN SIRIANO FALL 2021 READY-TO-WEAR
““You’re up there and feel you’re in another world in the mountains,” he explained, “I think my idea was, ‘You’re in this other place and what if there was this secret colony of people still going to parties — how would they dress?”
by SARAH SPELLINGS / Vogue
With so few in-person runway presentations in New York this season, the pressure is on to make your show a show. In Christian Siriano’s hot pink collection notes, placed on socially distanced chairs throughout the cavernous Gotham Hall, he wrote that he found it hard to find inspiration in a pandemic, but clung to the idea of a “psychedelic alternate reality.” And watching the tulle gowns, slinky party dresses, and sculptural statement pieces come down the runway really did feel like a trip to a fantasy land where dressing up was a normal, daily affair.
“This is the fun, this is the glamour, this is what you dream of when you’re a little kid wanting to be a designer,” Siriano said of his decision to hold a show. “You take this away, you have a really hard business that’s all about money.”
The show opened with four models—Teddy Quinlivan, Coco Rocha, Candice Huffine, and Martha Hunt—on mattresses placed throughout the crowd. They “awoke,” dressed in black undergarments and put on clothing from a rack. Rocha, ever the performer, was the first to walk down the runway, dressed in a white power coat with a cape-like back. Bam! Then the party started.
Siriano says he was inspired by a trip to Aspen, Colorado, and what the denizens of his fictional province (dare we say, pod?) might wear to glamorous events there. The first looks clearly communicated the woodsy inspiration via nubby wool coats, gray plaids, and brown moiré. Even in these more practical pieces, a hedonistic vibe still remained, as in a white overcoat with four prominent cutouts at the waist and thigh.
But the bulk of the collection was Siriano’s signature eveningwear, the sort of thing that’s made him such a recognizable name on red carpets. While there was a host of tulle, mesh skirts, and dramatic ruffles, several stood out from the pack. First, a slinky, one-sleeved lime green dress that looked like what a mountain dwelling hostess might wear. Then, a brick red column gown with a dramatic, high ruffled collar, styled with pink gloves. To close the show, Rocha wore a sculptural black dress reminiscent of the look Siriano created for Janelle Monaé at the 2019 Met Gala. Its heart-shaped skirt had pockets, as Rocha cheerfully demonstrated backstage.
MORE POSTS YOU’LL LOVE
What exactly is breathwork and how do you do it?